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Always-On Advertising: Stop Switching Off Between Campaigns

Don Tubo — Mon, 25 May 2026 14:46:23 +0000

Most small businesses treat paid advertising like a tap. Turn it on when you need sales. Turn it off when the campaign ends. Repeat until confused about why it never quite delivers.

That’s not a strategy. That’s hope with a budget.

What Is Always-On Advertising?

Always-on advertising means keeping a baseline of paid activity running continuously, rather than launching campaigns in bursts and going dark in between.

It doesn’t mean spending a fortune every month. It means maintaining enough presence that your ad platforms are constantly learning, your audiences are being built, and your brand is showing up while your competitors are on a self-imposed break.

The opposite – the burst model – looks efficient on paper. You spend when you need to, you stop when you don’t. In practice, every time you switch off and start again, you’re asking the algorithm to begin its learning process from scratch. You pay more to reach worse-matched audiences, your costs spike during the periods when you most need them not to, and you wonder why the campaign that worked six months ago isn’t working now.

It worked six months ago because it had six months of data. This one has a fortnight.

Why Ad Platforms Reward Consistency

Pinterest – which has 631 million monthly active users and processes 80 billion searches a month – published guidance this month making exactly this case. Brands running shopping campaigns for six months or more see around 33% higher return on ad spend than those running campaigns for fewer than three months. Campaigns using Performance+ catalogue tools deliver around 20% lower cost per action, partly because the system has had time to learn what works.

Pinterest’s motivation here is not entirely altruistic. More always-on spending means more revenue for Pinterest. But the underlying logic holds across every major ad platform – Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok. The algorithm gets better the longer it runs. Your cost per result drops as the learning phase ends. The data you build during quieter periods becomes the engine for your peak performance.

Every platform is telling you the same thing. The ones that listen compete on performance. The ones that don’t compete on spend.

How to Split Your Paid Advertising Budget

You don’t need to pour everything into always-on activity. A sensible starting framework looks roughly like this:

Around 75% of your budget keeps evergreen campaigns running. These drive discovery and sales every day, covering your core products or services and staying live regardless of season.

Around 15% goes into audience growth – activity designed to bring new people into your ecosystem so that when you do push harder at key moments, you’re retargeting a warm audience rather than cold traffic.

The remaining 10% is your peak burst. Black Friday. Christmas. Your industry’s equivalent of January. That 10% does the heavy lifting it’s supposed to do because the other 90% has been working for months.

Ten percent on peak moments feels counterintuitive when you’re used to spending everything during peak moments. But peak performance isn’t built in peak season. It’s built in the 24 weeks before it.

Why Always-On Advertising Matters for Small Businesses

If you’re running campaigns around launches, promotions, or seasonal moments and switching off the rest of the time, you’re making every campaign harder and more expensive than it needs to be.

The fix is not complicated. Identify your core offer – the thing that’s relevant to your audience year-round. Build a modest always-on campaign around it. Keep the budget low if you need to. The point is continuity, not scale. Then layer your promotional or seasonal activity on top of that foundation, rather than expecting it to do all the work from a standing start.

Should You Start an Always-On Campaign Now?

Yes. If you’re planning a push for Q4 – Christmas, Black Friday, whatever your peak looks like – the learning phase you start today is the performance you get in November. A campaign that launches in October is still finding its feet when the expensive weeks arrive.

You don’t need a big budget to begin. You need a live campaign, some creative to test, and enough patience to let the data build. The brands that win peak season started in May.

make my ad budget work harder

The post Always-On Advertising: Stop Switching Off Between Campaigns first appeared on 24 fingers.

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Google’s Year in Search 2025 Just Dropped (And What It Means for Your Brand)

Emma Goode — Fri, 02 Jan 2026 09:11:36 +0000

Google’s just dropped their Year in Search for 2025, and if you thought people were searching for your carefully crafted thought leadership content, we’ve got some news that’ll sting a bit.

Turns out we were all Googling Liam Payne (sob), the US election, and how to play some viral board game while pretending we had our lives together. The gap between what we think people care about and what they’re actually typing into Google at 3am is roughly the size of the Atlantic – which, coincidentally, is probably where half of us wished we were during election season.

Here’s what dominated Google search in 2025 and how you can nick the best bits:

The US Election Dominated Searches (Even Though Half of Us Aren’t American)

The US election was the second biggest search globally. Not our elections – theirs. We’re apparently more invested in American political drama than our own, which tells you everything about how global content consumption works now.

But here’s the thing: people weren’t searching “US election results” – they were searching variations of “what does this mean for me”, “how will this affect [thing I care about]”, and probably “can I emigrate to Canada” for the 24th time this decade.

How to Use It

International businesses: Your customers are consuming global content and making local decisions. Stop creating content in a vacuum. Write about how [big global thing] affects [your specific local audience].

B2B companies: Your clients are distracted by the same news cycle you are. Create content that connects industry changes to the bigger picture. “How [legislation/trend/disaster] affects [your service]” is always going to rank.

Any business selling expertise: People don’t want more information – they want translation. They need someone to explain what the news actually means for their specific situation. Be that person.

We’re Still Googling “How to Play” Everything

“How to play Connections” was massive globally. Connections – the New York Times word game that’s apparently caused more workplace procrastination than 24 months of Teams meetings combined – and we’re all pretending we’re good at it while secretly Googling strategies.

The search isn’t “Connections game” – it’s “how to play”. We’re not looking for new entertainment, we’re looking for instructions on the entertainment everyone else seems to understand already. Nobody wants to be the one who doesn’t get it.

How to Use It

Every industry with jargon: Your potential customers are Googling “how does [your industry thing] work” because they’re embarrassed to admit they don’t know. Write the explainer content that assumes zero knowledge and zero judgment.

Tech and software businesses: Stop writing documentation for people who already understand. Write for the person who’s just discovered your tool exists and hasn’t got a clue where to start.

Complex service businesses: Create “absolute beginner” guides that don’t patronise. “Here’s how [your service] works if you’ve never done this before” – that’s the search intent you’re missing.

We Googled Death More Than Life

Liam Payne’s death was the top global search. Not “how to live your best life” or “productivity hacks for 2025” – just straight-up tragedy. Add in a sobering list of public figures we lost, and the pattern’s clear: humans still love tragedy.

Our brains are disaster-detection machines that evolved to spot threats, not opportunities. For 200,000 years, the humans who noticed danger survived, while the optimists thinking happy thoughts got eaten by something with bigger teeth. That negativity bias isn’t a character flaw – it’s the reason your ancestors didn’t become lunch, and it’s why “what went wrong” content will always outperform “how to do it perfectly” by massive margins.

The internet’s awash with toxic positivity and aspirational tips, but in reality, we’re Googling grief, confusion, and “what actually happened”.

How to Use It

Every business: Stop avoiding the difficult topics in your industry. Your customers are Googling “what to do when [thing goes wrong]” at 2am, not “best practices for [thing going perfectly]”. Write for the crisis moment, not the Instagram highlight.

Service businesses: Create content around failure points. “What to do when your website crashes before launch” beats “website launch checklist” every single time. People google problems, not prevention.

Professional services: The uncomfortable questions your clients are too embarrassed to ask in person? Those are your content goldmine. Write the “here’s what happens if you’ve already messed this up” guides, not just the “do it properly from the start” ones.

Kate Middleton and Celine Dion Were Top Searches (For Very Different Reasons)

Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis and Celine Dion’s Stiff Person Syndrome had people searching not just for updates, but for understanding of conditions most of us had never heard of. We’re using public figures as entry points to educate ourselves about health issues we’re too scared to Google directly.

“Stiff Person Syndrome” searches spiked because of Celine Dion, not because of public health campaigns. Celebrity gives us permission to learn about things that feel too personal or too frightening to search for on their own.

How to Use It

Health and wellness businesses: People are Googling medical conditions through celebrity news, not through symptoms. Create content that connects current events to health information – without being exploitative about it.

Every business: Cultural moments are your permission structure to talk about difficult topics. Use them. “What [celebrity news] teaches us about [your expertise]” isn’t clickbait if it’s genuinely informative.

Professional services: People need entry points to complex topics. Use relatable examples and current events to make your expertise accessible. Just don’t be weird about it.

Spotify Wrapped Dominated Socials (Because We’re All Narcissists Now)

Spotify Wrapped absolutely destroyed social media in 2025 – not because the format was revolutionary, but because it gave us personalised content about ourselves that we could share without looking like complete egomaniacs. Genius, really.

The format’s been nicked by everyone from dating apps to project management tools, and it works for one simple reason: people will engage with content about themselves 24 times more than content about your brand. Every time.

How to Use It

SaaS and tech businesses: Create year-end recaps for your users. Show them their data, their progress, their patterns. Make it shareable. Spotify didn’t invent this – they just perfected it.

Service businesses: Send clients a “year with us” breakdown. Not an invoice recap (nobody’s sharing that) – an impact report. “You published 24 pieces of content with us” hits different than “here’s your renewal notice”.

Content creators: Personalisation at scale is the holy grail. Even if you can’t automate it, the principle stands – make your audience the hero of the story, not your brand.

The Takeaway

Google’s Year in Search 2025 shows we’re searching for three things: clarity when something goes wrong, instructions for things we’re supposed to already know, and content about ourselves that makes us look interesting.

The businesses that’ll rank in 2026 are the ones writing for actual human search behaviour – messy, embarrassing, self-interested, and usually happening at stupid o’clock when nobody’s watching. Stop creating content for the person you wish your audience was. Start creating it for the person they actually are, Googling desperately at 2am because something’s gone wrong and they need help now.

Google’s algorithm is finally smart enough to reward that honesty. Your content calendar needs to catch up.

Search[ing] for better marketing results?

The post Google’s Year in Search 2025 Just Dropped (And What It Means for Your Brand) first appeared on 24 fingers.

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The 24 biggest Google Trends This Month

Scheenagh Harrington — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 06:38:25 +0000

So, the UK election dust from the start of July has definitely settled and the keys to Number 10 have been handed over.

Now we can all get on with far more important things, such as knowing which High Valyrian command will get your dragon to fart fire and why the web’s looking at tea bags as a sunburn cure.

Yes, we are back and the votes are in. Cue the music and let us reveal what’s been topping the Google Search charts for the past month.

Ready? Let’s go.

Bye bye Rishi, hello Keir

Okay, let’s get the big beast out of the way. The UK has a shiny new government and Prime Minister so it’s no surprise that the search for General Election on Google hit a monster 50,000 in early July.

However, that pales into insignificance compared to searches on the big night itself for BBC News, which hit one million.

Biden bows out, Trump shot down, and Kamala’s star rises: the race for the White House gets keeerayzeeee.

Over in ‘Murica US Prez Joe Biden’s dopey debate performance led to LOTS of questions. ‘What party is Joe Biden?’ spiked over 250% and even the assassination attempt on Trump couldn’t stop the relentless stream of whispers about Biden’s age.

The Prez insisted he was fine but when you’ve lost George Clooney, you know you’re screwed.

The wobbles got worse when Covid caught up with Sleepy Joe, while the search for ‘Trump ear bandage’ rose 70%. But it was Biden who caught the world napping when he stepped out of the presidential race, and prompting searches for Vice President Kamala Harris to skyrocket 900%.

Want to support older people in your community? Check out Friends of the Elderly.

Boobs, bums and backstabbing galore

If chirpy Lib Dem leader Ed Davey ticking off his bucket list didn’t quite hit the bloodlust spot, series two of House of the Dragon has boobs, bums, backstabbing and bitchery to spare.

It’s also led to the top ‘how to learn’ language search as fans (we hope) brush up on their High Valyrian, with ‘can you learn high valyrian’ and ‘who speaks high valyrian’ up 150%. These people know it’s not real, right?

Speaking of fantasy and proof that some things really are worth the wait, sci-fi fans went berserk after news Mel Brooks’ daft 1987 flick Spaceballs was getting a sequel Searches for ‘Spaceballs sequel’ hit a stratospheric 1,050%.

A fond farewell to a true original

Sad news from the arts and ents world came with the death of much-loved Canadian actor Donald Sutherland.

Fellow veteran thesp Alan Alda, who played Sutherland’s M*A*S*H character Hawkeye Pierce in the TV version, got a breakout search boost.

South African stars rise

Netflix has been a brilliant place to watch stuff that isn’t home grown or from ‘Murica. One to watch is South African drama Savage Beauty (think of it as the bastard love child of Revenge and Succession). Searches for it were up more than 550%.

Ed’s bonkers election campaign

It’s not always easy to speak well of politicians but fair play to Ed Davey and his bonkers election campaign.

As well as having more fun than a busload of pensioners with an unlimited supply of gin and speed, he managed to put caregivers firmly in the spotlight, boosting searches for the occupation by 40% in the UK.

Find out more by following @carers_uk.

NHS pay rise

Meanwhile, it looks like underpaid health workers have also been hitting their keyboards, as ‘NHS pay rise’ was the top-searched and top-trending pay rise query, with a whacking 440%.

Brits fret about Joe and Gregg

Perhaps some UK searchers need to get out more… They were worried about the health of US Prez Joe Biden and MasterChef’s Gregg ‘the egg’ Wallace, with searches for both zooming past 250%.

Sad searches

Possibly saddest of all, the top question surrounding the UK’s beloved but damn-near broken health service was: “What does ‘NHS’ stand for?”

Sickly heartburn

Over in ‘Murica, searches for the question ‘can heartburn make you throw up?’ spiked over 2,500%. It had nothing to do with claims of divine intervention after Trump’s assassination attempt, but that wasn’t all…”

DIY sunblock

Folk also got busy searching the web for home-made sunblock and tanning oils. Maybe it’s still cheaper than handing over the internal organ of your choice to pay the health care bill for stubbing your toe.

Amid the top five searches for sunburn cures were the dodgy-sounding Noxzema cream and silver sulfadiazine cream.

Bringing up the rear was a baking soda bath (great if you want to flay yourself alive) and tea bags.

Burn and then a brew, anyone?

‘Oi America, give us our summer back’

While everyone in the UK is still waiting for the summer to get started, there was still hope that some sunshine would appear.

While searches for ‘weather forecast heatwave UK’ spiked by over 2,200%, across the pond, where millions suffered record-breaking heat, things were very different.

Searches for ‘how long will this heat wave last’ were up more than 4,850% and ‘heat wave weather forecast’ over 2,250%.

You can find NHS guidelines on dealing with extreme heat here.

New balls please

July means Wimbledon and the tennis competition hasn’t just had us daydreaming about Carlos Alcaraz’s phenomenal balls (we’re talking the speed of his serves, obviously) it’s been among the UK’s top food and drink searches.

All us lesser mortals who weren’t slurping champers and scoffing strawbs with the slebs at SW19 have been kickin’ up our heels too, so ner.

Searches for food and drinks festivals across the country topped the Google charts all month long.

Full of spritz

In ‘Murica, the desperation to cool down while marking the Fourth of July naturally spilled into searches for drinkypoos, leading to ‘spritz’ hitting a record high.

Among the trending recipes are the perky-sounding Campari spritz, Capri spritz, Crodino spritz (presumably not made with actual crocodiles), Aperol spritz and Limoncello spritz.

That’s a lot of spritz but god knows they need something to wash down all that grilled food slathered in hot sauce.

Au revoir to the office

UK workers? A surly, insular bunch? How very dare you!

Thing is, the data don’t lie… Searches for ‘remote job’ recently hit an all-time high in the UK, and three of the top five ‘where’ queries really showed people’s priorities:

Where you can work from home

Where you don’t have to talk to people

Where you can sit down

Make of those three queries what you will, but things take an even more interesting turn when we look at relocation job searches, which also hit a record high. Can you guess the top trending country?

It was… Saudi Arabia!

Wedding wings

Summer also means wedding season and the endless search for something suitable to wear. Recently, ‘jumpsuits for women’ spiked over 3,350%, closely followed by ‘shawls for weddings’, with more than 2,800%.

Based on this data, we can confidently say two things: a wingsuit is your best bet (as long as you don’t wear a white one) and a big fat “fuck you” to fascinators.

If you prefer clothing that’s sublime and sustainable, check out aaweareeco.

Cool summer

Of course, not everyone wants to get away from the UK altogether – some just need a bit of a break (“it’s not you darling, it’s me”).

Google search trends for summer vacay were topped by British Airways (complaints forms at the ready, people) but finding sun, sea and sand in all the cracks is clearly not UK holidaymakers’ first priority.

Hot on BA’s heels was skiing with a spike of more than 1,800%.

Andy bows out

He may be Scottish when he loses and British when he wins, but two-time champion Andy Murray was the undisputed King of Wimbledon 🫅 this year, with searches hitting over 100,000 as he made his final appearance at SW19 😭

Murray’s emotional farewell briefly eclipsed Euro 2024, but it didn’t last long.

‘Albania fastest goal’ became a global search trend after, well, they scored the fastest goal…

Meanwhile, ‘goal of the round Euro 2024’ soared over 3,500% worldwide and, back in the UK, the Euros were searched 320% more than Wimbledon.

If your kid has been obsessed with the footie, even after England’s soulcrushing loss in the final (bring on the Lionesses) and Gareth Southgate’s exit, drop the great team at SoccerDays a line.

WTF?

We know not everything in life can be neatly boxed up and pigeon-holed, so we’re adding this section for Google searches that have that special WTF factor.

Bacon ain’t fakin’ when he says: “being normal sucks”

Kevin Bacon is famous for many things: shaking his jean-clad bum in Footloose, creeping us all out in Hollow Man, and being named after one of the best sandwich fillings in the world.

But it wasn’t his CV that prompted searches for him to spike more than 20,000% in the US. It was his conclusion that being a ‘normal person’ (which he tried for one entire day) as opposed to a celeb, “sucked”. Thanks for that.

Bonkers blocks

Finally, fans of Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey know there’s a weird monolith in it. But did you know there are three in ‘Murica (where else?) too?

A new one recently popped up in Nevada, following others in Utah, Romania, California and New Mexico.

These 12-foot tall metal slabs mysteriously come and go, and the latest one prompted a three-fold spike in US questions about what they’re made of, while “monolith meaning” was up more than 300%. The truth is out there.

That’s it – for now…

Before you throw open the cupboards and start experimenting with spritzers and sunblocks, or watch Footloose for the 80,000th time and swear it’s research (who cares what for?), make sure you sign up for next month’s round-up of Google Searches. They’ll be freshly poured with ice and a slice, and waiting in your inbox before you’ve twerked on TikTok.

The post The 24 biggest Google Trends This Month first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post The 24 biggest Google Trends This Month appeared first on 24 fingers.

The 24 biggest Google Trends This Month

Scheenagh Harrington — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 09:54:33 +0000

It’s so close to the summer we can almost taste it. We’re also in the middle of a General Election campaign (snooooore) and the internet’s gone crazy for coffee badgering and cottage cheese. What better time to take a hop, skip and a jump through recent searches in the UK and further afield? Strap in, hold on tight and get ready for a giggle as we find out what people have been throwing into Google Search with our 24 top trends for the past month.

British food gets roasted

If the thought of jelly with bits in gives you the ick, it might explain the top-searched question about British cuisine worldwide in the past year. Ready? It was…

Why is British food so bad?😲

There is NOTHING wrong with putting gravy on everything or naming a pudding after a diseased appendage*

British food businesses, show ‘em what you’ve got (unless it’s a diseased appendage then, no thank you).

*Spotted Dick

Orange ain’t the new cheese

Things are much calmer on the food front in ‘Murica, where searches for cottage cheese bread were up more than 140%, while cottage cheese flatbread was the top trending viral recipe. Could the nation that put orange cheese in a can finally be learning that real food exists? 🧀

@healthylittlepeach The viral cottage cheese flatbread blew my mind. It grossed me out when I first saw it, but now that I’ve tried it, it’s AMAZING! Thanks @healthymumway for creating this amazing recipe. I also sqw @Shredhappens version. 10/10! 1 cup cottage cheese 2 eggs 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1.5 tsp Italian seasoning -Add to a blender or food processor. Blend well. Line a small baking pan with parchment paper. Pour the cottage cheese mixture in and spread out evenly. -Bake on 350F for 40 minutes! -Use as bread and build a sandwich! I am using Tzatziki, chicken, tomatoes, arugula and red onion! #cottagecheese #cottagecheeseflatbread #healthyrecipes #lowcarbrecipes #viralrecipe ♬ original sound – Mac

E.coli-wobble

Back in England, we were warned by the Health Security Agency about a ‘nationally distributed food item’ linked to an E.coli outbreak.

In a mike-drop move worthy of EastEnders’ dum dums, the Agency DID NOT SAY what the aforementioned dodgy food item was. Scan your cupboards NOW… 😱😱😱

Reality royalty

God bless Joey Essex ❤️ and all who sail in him for putting Love Island back in the internet search spotlight and trouncing The Traitors (how quickly we forget). At 33, he’s the show’s oldest-ever participant. It also makes him about 1,000 in reality telly years 👴😆

Still, the self-proclaimed King of Essex 🤴 is “extremely single” and Love Island ain’t his “first rodeo”. Reem as ever Joey, reem as ever.

Merry Kelly

Getting a bounce from related searches was the lovely Kelly Brook, She may have gone from being crowned FHM’s Sexiest Woman in the World in 2005 to living her loved-up best life with husband Jeremy Parisi ❤️❤️❤️ but hasn’t stopped searches for her 2024 calendar spiking by over 160%. Well jell.

Barbie bounces back

Proof you can’t keep a good woman down – even if you drop a nuclear bomb on her with Cillian Murphy’s half-starved face slapped all over it – came with the UK’s top-searched films.

Alex Garland’s Civil War came first but Barbie, with her pastel-coloured 🖕🖕🖕 to the patriarchy was snapping at its heels in second place. Memo to film-makers: MORE OF THIS PLEASE.

Back of the net

In the same way that you don’t have to be crazy to work (insert your chosen location here), the documentary series 99 proved you don’t have to be a footie fan or love Ryan Reynolds to enjoy a show about it.

It topped the UK searches for documentaries in the past month, in a list that included Amy Winehouse (💔) and Bon Jovi, as well as Kevin Spacey and Gary Glitter 💩💩

Cannes-ed heat

Most of us don’t have a clue who’s taking part in the Cannes Film Festival 📽️ but people searching the web in Scotland and Wales have been OBSESSED with the place. Maybe it’s not so much the ‘ooh-la-la’ of it all as the “OMG I can finally see the sun!” ☀️

Film fans in Ireland preferred the bright lights of Utah and the Sundance Festival while in England, they stayed close to home with the BFI London Film Festival. Bring on those buckets of 🍿🍿🍿

Med spa shenanigans

When life gives you lemons, sod ‘em and start looking into med spas, according to our ‘Murican cousins. Heads up all you aestheticians – this one’s for you.

Among the top questions related to the industry were how much 💵 med spa owners made and “how to become a nurse injector”. Yes, that is learning how to stick someone with 💉💉💉

Well flip my lip

More popular internet queries from across the pond include “what is a lip flip”? It might sound made up but it’s a proper funky name for a filler treatment 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️. After you’ve had it, you can give your mush a workout by reciting another top search: ultherapy 🤣

E-skin me alive

It was only a matter of time that, after e-mail, e-commerce and everything else electric 🔌, the people in white coats got round to our bodies. Yup, peeps in China have developed e-skin and claim it can perceive touch 🤯🤯🤯

Call in the lawyers, it’s time for a sleep divorce

We get the usual blend of US batshit ‘n’ bullshit from the country where “nose job or part time job” were among the top search trends.

Couples looking to get a few extra 😴😴😴 are searching for a ‘sleep divorce’ – they snooze in separate beds so everything else in their relationship is 👍

If your business is in the relaxation game, this trend’s one to watch.

Come eye-gain?

That’s relatively normal compared to the eyebrow blindness 👀 phenom. Searches for this facial faux pas (in which your eyebrows do not match the shape of your face 😱) spiked almost 3,000%. Can we blame the Kardashians? 🤔

Mommy makeover and vampire breast lift

Something is going wildly wrong among ‘Murican mums, as the top trending cosmetic procedure questions were “what is a mommy makeover surgery?” and “what is a vampire breast lift?”.

We suspect the latter ain’t Dracula sticking his hand in your G cup and saying in a heavy Transylvanian accent: “Mwa-ha-ha-you don’t get many of those to the pound”…

It’s hot in here…

One of the most recent top US beauty trends was “boyfriend blush”, rising by more than 190%. This is not what you think.

Brace yourselves: it gives you the face of a flustered man – specifically your other half – right after they’ve finished exercising. Maybe they should have called it “sweaty beetroot” 🥵?

Coffee badgering and hush vacays

Leave it to US remote workers to get really creative when it comes to clocking on and buggering off. Two major trends are ‘coffee badgering’ and ‘hush vacations’.

The first is someone who comes into the office long enough to have a sniff of a brew ☕ and a natter before sidling off home. The second is a remote worker sets up shop in a holiday location 🏖️ but doesn’t tell their boss.

Fair play to them – if the Great British weather lived up to its name, we’d all be doing it.

If you’re a B&B owner, crank up that WiFi.

Farewell Rob Burrow

You didn’t have to be a rugby league fan to feel the wave of love that followed the death of 41-year-old Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow 💔

He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) four and a half years previously, and his untimely passing saw search queries for the disease increase by more than 1,800%.

If this touches a chord, make sure you follow @mndassoc.

Thank you Michael

Another sad one: the hugely popular TV doctor topped UK search trends after he was found dead on the Greek island of Symi 💔 four days after going missing during a heatwave.

Let’s hear it for the men

In much better news, it’s good to see searches about men’s mental health month were up more than 800%, topping May’s ‘when is’ search in the UK. For the record, it’s in November (along with International Men’s Day @UKMensDay).

For advice and support, follow @MaleWellbeingUK.

Elections, elections, everywhere

Isn’t it always the same? You’re not bothered about an election and then suddenly they’re bloody EVERYWHERE. A bit like weeds.

The one we’re all interested in is between Biden (should he live that long 😬) and the unhinged orange buffoon but we have to wait until November for that insane rematch, unless the latter’s eating porridge somewhere…

Home-grown squabbles

In the meantime, Labour leader Keir Starmer is trying to prove he’s really not dull as piss 😑, while UK PM Rishi Sunak pissed off just about everyone by ducking out of D-Day commemorations early. There really are no words for that one.

Pound-shop politicians

Maybe ask these two. Diane Abbott was the top trending person searched over the UK general election thanks to the kerfuffle over whether she could stand or not. She can.

However, just like soured milk(shake) when it hits your stomach, Nigel Farage began moving upwards.

Before checking that your eyebrows match your face 🤦‍♀️ or you catch up on what Joey Essex 😎 has been up to, make sure you sign up for next month’s round-up of our top trending Google Searches. We’ll have them stripped, washed and sent straight to your inbox before you’ve checked your Facebook.

The post The 24 biggest Google Trends This Month first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post The 24 biggest Google Trends This Month appeared first on 24 fingers.

What is GA4 and why are Google emailing me about it?

Emma Goode — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 12:08:55 +0000

As a small business owner, you understand the importance of keeping up with the latest tools and technologies to stay ahead of the competition, while also keeping the clients happy, trying to master the social media algorithms, building your sales pipeline, doing the accounts. Fun, isn’t it 😉

If you’ve got a website, one specific tool plays a crucial role in your online marketing strategy, and that tool is Google Analytics.

What is Google Analytics and what can it do for my business?

Don’t worry, we will.

To keep it simple, it’s a piece of code that you install on your website that will help you understand and analyse your website’s performance, user behaviour on said website, and your overall online presence.

And it’s free.

Once installed on your website, you’ll be able to:

Track website performance

Google Analytics allows you to monitor the metrics related to your website’s performance, such as the number of visitors, page views, average session duration, bounce rate (how quickly people exit your website, and loads more. These metrics help you understand how well your website is performing and identify areas that need improvement. On that note…

Understand user behavior

By analysing the data collected by this magic bit of code, you’ll start to see how users interact with your website, which pages they visit, how long they stay, and the actions they take. This is like gold dust. Page not working, optimise it. Page working brilliantly? Do more of them then. This is the stuff that will allow you to increase your conversions. That is, have a website that actually brings you leads, rather than it sitting there looking pretty and costing you to host it.

Measure the effectiveness of your marketing and social media campaigns

Google Analytics enables you to track the performance of your online marketing campaigns, such as social media, email marketing, and paid advertising, like if you boosted a post on Facebook for example. By measuring the effectiveness of these campaigns, you can determine which marketing channels are driving the most traffic, conversions, and revenue, allowing you to drop the duds and scale the good(e) ones.

Identify your target audience

Google Analytics provides demographic and geographic data about your website visitors, helping you understand your target audience better. This information can be used to create more targeted marketing campaigns and tailor your website’s content to better resonate with your audience. Dave from Dudley, aged 55 and ¾, will get EXACTLY the kind of content that makes his thumb stop scrolling and start buying. Nice one, Dave.

Improve your SEO

By identifying the keywords and search queries (what people put into Google to find you) that drive traffic to your website, Google Analytics can help you improve your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. This can lead to higher search engine rankings, increased organic traffic, and ultimately, more conversions and revenue. Booooom.

Inform website design and content

The insights gained from Google Analytics can help you make informed decisions about your website’s design, layout, and content. By understanding what works and what doesn’t, you can create a more engaging and user-friendly website that drives better results. And one that still looks pretty.

That all sounds great. Where do I sign?

24 secs, we’ll come onto that. You need to know something else first.

Spoiler alert. Google has introduced a new version of its analytics platform, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and they want everyone to migrate over by the 1st of July. Let us share the benefits of migrating to GA4, and don’t worry, we’ll keep it jargon-free.

Why Migrate to GA4?

GA4 comes with several enhancements that make it a more powerful and user-friendly tool for small business owners. They say you’ll get:

Improved Data Collection and Reporting

GA4 uses advanced machine learning algorithms to provide more accurate and actionable insights into user behavior, enabling you to make better-informed decisions about your marketing strategy. We say: we do love an algorithm.

Enhanced Privacy Controls

GA4 offers improved privacy settings that help you comply with evolving data protection regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, without sacrificing the quality of your data. No GDPR jail for you, then. Always a bonus.

Cross-Platform Tracking

GA4 is designed to track users across multiple devices and platforms, giving you a more comprehensive view of your audience’s behavior. Think of it as ethical stalking 😬

Integration with Google Ads

GA4 seamlessly integrates with Google Ads, allowing you to create more targeted ad campaigns based on your analytics data. Now this is actually really important. Wasted budget is money off your bottom line. Never good(e).

Future-Proofing

Google never goes backwards. New features and improvements will be introduced to this platform, making it essential to stay up-to-date with the latest version.

Got it. So now what’s next?

The first thing you’ll want to do is check which version of Google Analytics you’ve got running before you do anything else.

Check My Website

By now, hopefully we’ve convinced you that Google Analytics is an essential tool for any small business owner or marketer looking to make data-driven decisions and optimise their online presence (and grow their business and make more money). Double boom.

1st July isn’t that long away. Check your website now and then we can give you a helping hand migrating over to GA4.

The post What is GA4 and why are Google emailing me about it? first appeared on 24 fingers.

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How can PPC help your business?

Emma Goode — Sun, 14 May 2023 14:36:33 +0000

For hundreds of years, businesses relied on print advertising to get the word out about their products and services. Anyone remember this guy?

Then along came the digital age: technology that opened up the world of online advertising and vastly increased companies’ ability to reach their target audience. Booooom.

Almost overnight, the limitations of print advertising were eliminated: companies could respond quickly to changing market trends and advertise themselves for a fraction of the cost. Like actual pennies.

Digital channels such as websites, search engines and social media have enabled ads to be targeted like never before, based on people’s interests, as well as their age, gender and where they live. Powerful stuff.

Compared to its print counterpart, online advertising and PPC services are more flexible than a world-class ballerina. Companies can react immediately to even the slightest shift in user behaviour or chuck out a misfiring ad as analytics track click-through rates, conversion rates and return on investment.

More than ever before, businesses can see in near-real time whether their campaigns are being effective and make data-driven decisions about what direction to take next. Smart, eh.

But which form of digital advertising is the most effective? Come with us and let’s explore the world of pay per click (PPC) ads.

Social media marketing, SEO strategy and PPC ads

When it comes to digital marketing, businesses are spoiled for choice. Each has its benefits but they are all different and serve different purposes.

Social media strategy

Millions of companies, from solopreneurs to global corporations use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to bang the drum as loud as they can for their brands. It too offers opportunities for organic growth, or you can invest in paid social media ads if you need quicker results.

This sort of marketing campaign aims to build brand awareness, engage with customers and (not-so) gently nudge them in the direction of your website or online store.

That said, as a marketing tool, be prepared to play the long game as you build relationships with customers and establish a brand presence.

Typically, brands generate a following on various platforms by creating and sharing content, including video and blog posts, that resonates with their target audience.

Search and you will find

SEO (search engine optimisation) is the practice of optimising a website with the most relevant keywords so it is more attractive to search engines. It can help your business rank higher in a search engine results page and drive organic traffic to the site.

Like social marketing, crafting an effective SEO strategy takes patience and time, requiring regular optimisation and refinement to maintain and improve rankings. If the thought of it puts you to sleep or you’re just too-damn-busy, we can help.

PPC advertising

Brands using PPC advertising pay for clicks on ads appearing in SERPs or on social media platforms. It aims to drive targeted traffic to a website or landing page, as well as generate leads or sales.

Unlike organic social and SEO, PPC advertising is highly targeted to specific demographics or geographic regions. Bish, bash, bosh.

What is pay per click (PPC)?

Advertisers use PPC to increase traffic to their websites, paying a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Although it does require shelling out your hard-earned, it can be a lot faster compared to organic methods.

The process works by companies deciding how much they want to pay for particular keywords related to their products or services eg how much a click is worth to their business, against the lifetime value of a customer.

With a realistic click budget, the better the chance of obtaining a high ad placement (we’ll come to that later) and therefore, increased visibility to potential customers. Before you start getting all Ebenezer Scrooge, one of the main benefits of pay per click advertising is its ability to generate highly-qualified leads and increase the potential to convert them into paying customers.

The good news is that it doesn’t need to cost £££. Sighs of relief all round.

What are the different types of PPC ads?

When it comes to types of PPC ads, unlike your average High Street clothes shop, it’s definitely not a case of one size fits all. There are several types and each comes with its own unique benefits and can be tailored to suit your business’ needs.

Search ads

Search ads are typically text-based, comprising a headline, description, and URL and are the most common type of Google Ads. These ads appear at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) when users type in keywords related to the advertiser’s products or services.

Display ads

These graphical ads appear on websites, mobile apps and video content across the internet. Think images, videos and animations in a variety of formats such as banners, pop-ups (of the non-infuriating kind) and in-app ads.

Video ads

This hugely popular ad format can be displayed on websites, as well as YouTube, social media and Google Search. Bonus: they can play before or during other video content – known as in-stream – or out-stream, shown on websites and apps.

Shopping ads

The next time you search for something on Google, check out the ads that appear at the top of the search engine results pages. These are called Shopping ads, a powerful e-commerce tool serving up product images, prices and other details. Great for buying nine pairs of stilettos in one day during lockdown, eh Miss Goode.

App ads

This form of PPC ads promote mobile apps and aims to boost installs, engagement and in-app purchases. They are displayed on the Google Play Store, Google Search, YouTube and other Google properties.

Remarketing ads

Not every campaign hits the mark first time round – everything’s a learning curve, right? That doesn’t mean you can’t try again.

Any retargeting campaign will use these pay per click ads, focusing on users who have already visited a business’s site or engaged with their content while actively searching.

They remind visitors of products or services, and can be found on websites, the Google Display Network and social media sites such as YouTube.

How does PPC advertising benefit a business?

As you can imagine, there are lots of advantages from using paid advertising, so let’s take a closer look.

Boost visibility and brand awareness

PPC marketing makes businesses more visible during search queries. Putting your head above the online parapet will help in boosting brand awareness among your potential customers.

Targeted traffic

PPC advertising supports a brand’s marketing efforts by enabling firms to tailor different ads to specific audiences using targeted keywords for search engines, based on criteria including search terms, location and even device.

Measurable PPC campaign results

Paid advertising helps businesses track the performance of their advertising efforts or search and social media ads strategy in real-time.

Tools like Google Analytics show how many clicks, impressions and conversions a paid ad campaign has generated, as well as the cost per click (CPC) and return on investment (ROI).

Flexibility and control

One of the biggest benefits of PPC campaigns is the financial flexibility it offers, as well as the high levels of control when it comes to ad placement.

Businesses can set their own advertising budget, adjust their bid and target specific audiences to maximise value from their PPC strategies. Even if you don’t have a lot to invest, you can still make it go a long way.

Companies can also test different PPC ad copy and landing pages to identify which ones generate the best results. Testing could potentially boost both your clickthrough rate and conversion rate.

How much will this all cost me?

Many businesses want to invest in paid search ads but don’t have vast marketing budgets. That’s ok by the way. It’s also why one of the biggest benefits of using PPC ad campaigns is its cost-effectiveness.

Advertisers pay only when someone clicks on their targeted ad, so resources aren’t wasted trying to engage people who aren’t interested.

Quick results

Paid search can generate really fast results, compared to the slower ROI of organic search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media.

Using all three is a smart move, but PPC means businesses can be proactive, and immediately start generating traffic and leads to their website.

PPC ad campaigns can be hugely powerful for raising your profile in search engine results and helping your brand grow. However, it’s important to understand that PPC can be incredibly expensive and can be very time-consuming. Unless you have someone like us doing it for you.

That’s because the ad copy in each PPC campaign is built around keywords, so the most successful Google Ads advertisers are continuously researching, refining and growing their keyword lists. Let’s take a deeper dive into this incredibly important element of paid search.

Keyword strategies in PPC campaigns

Keyword strategies are a crucial component in PPC advertising and mainly fall into two main categories.

Exact match keywords

These keywords are very specific and target a highly relevant audience. An exact match keyword will only trigger your ad to appear when someone searches for that particular word or phrase. Red stilettos, size six, for example.

It’s worth remembering that while exact match keywords may drive less traffic to your site, they often have a higher click-through rate and generate more conversions. Swings and roundabouts.

Broad match keywords

As the name suggests, these are less specific, enabling PPC ads to be shown to a wider audience. A firm selling hiking boots could include a broad match keyword or phrase like ‘high-heeled shoes’ to trigger an ad to appear in search results.

Broad match keywords work in the opposite way to exact match. They help your business by driving more traffic to your site, but here’s the meh: they have a lower click-through rate and can be less effective in generating conversions.

Negative keywords in search ads

These should be an important part of PPC advertising keyword strategy, and comprise words or phrases that you don’t want your ad to appear for in search results. It might sound odd to newcomers, but bear with us.

For example, ad copy for a high-end shoe brand could add negative keywords like ‘cheap’ or ‘discount’ to ensure their ads are only shown to people searching for high-quality products.

All of this demonstrates the importance of keyword research to a successful PPC advertising strategy. Knowing and using keywords that your target audience is likely to search for will ensure your PPC campaign will generate the most traffic and conversions.

The costs of a PPC campaign

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams, and fellow alumni of our Future CEO, said he loved the noise deadlines made as they whooshed past, but there’s nothing funny about a brand’s finances. A well-planned PPC campaign will always take into consideration budget restrictions when setting advertising goals.

According to Adriel, the average CPC across all industries in 2023 is £2.36, a 2% increase on Q3 2022, but cost of PPC campaigns can vary significantly, depending on factors including keyword competition and ad positioning.

The quality of your campaigns can also affect the cost of PPC ads. Search giant Google assigns a score to PPC campaigns which is a bit like a beauty contest, except it’s based on criteria including relevance, landing page quality and click-through rate (CTR), rather than how good your site looks in a bikini.

PPC campaigns with high-quality scores can see lower CPCs and better ad positioning in SERPs.

Measuring PPC ad spend success

When it comes to measuring the success of a PPC campaign, the conversion rate is one of the most important metrics.

A conversion is defined as a user carrying out an action after seeing an ad, whether that’s making a purchase, filling out a form or subscribing to a newsletter.

The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who convert out of the total number of clicks on pay per click advertising. Simples.

Those rates can vary widely depending on industry, target audience and campaign goals. For example, the average conversion rate for e-commerce businesses is around 2.63%, slightly lower for B2B at 2.23%, while in the finance industry, it can reach as high as 9.6%.

It’s also important to consider conversion rates alongside other metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), cost per acquisition (CPA), and return on investment (ROI) to have a complete understanding of how well each PPC campaign has performed.

To improve conversion rates and help your business, it’s important to create relevant and compelling landing pages and PPC ads that target your ideal customer with relevant exact and broad keywords.

As we mentioned previously, you should also use data and analytics to regularly test, refine and optimise your campaigns so you can really maximise the benefits of PPC tools.

Businesses looking to advertise their products and services should include social media, SEO, and PPC in a comprehensive marketing strategy. One size does not fit all nowadays. By understanding the differences between these tools and their respective strengths, the right mix can help companies achieve ALL their marketing and advertising goals.

The sales funnel and Google Ads

Chances are you’ve heard of the sales funnel, but just in case you’re new to the business world and are looking at getting the most out of your next PPC campaign, allow us to explain.

It’s got nothing to do with kitchen equipment. Instead, it describes the three stages a customer goes through before making a purchase, and technology from Google has a big role to play in moving your audience from the top to the bottom.

The awareness stage

This is the point at which customers become aware of a problem they need to solve or a need they have. They may not even be aware of your brand, product or service.

Google Ads can create awareness by targeting relevant keywords and placing your ads in front of the noses of potential customers seeking solutions to their problems.

The consideration stage

Here, customers are researching solutions to their problem or need and are comparing different options to evaluate which one best suits them.

More keywords goodness: this time related to specific products or services to drive traffic to your landing pages packed with info and inspo.

The decision stage

Hurray 🙂 Customers have found the best solution for their problem and are ready to make a purchase from your site.

It’s at this point that conversions are most likely to occur, and Google Ads can be a powerful tool for ensuring they happen.

As well as playing a part in ushering customers into and through the sales funnel, Google Ads can also be used for retargeting campaigns to identify a relevant ad group, increasing the chances of former visitors making a purchase.

Before you go, let’s talk about Bing and PPC ads

When it comes to PPC platforms, Google Ads is the big kid in the playground of the PPC advertising market, but it’s not the only one.

Microsoft’s search engine Bing offers businesses an alternative platform to showcase their products and services through PPC advertising on Bing Ads. Here are some of the benefits:

Lower CPC

Bing often has a lower CPC compared to Google Ads and offers competitive bidding options, which means businesses using it for PPC ads could get increased clicks and conversions for their marketing budget. Who doesn’t love less buck, more bang?

Less competition

Bing’s lower profile means there’s not as much competition compared to Google Ads. Brands could secure higher positions for their PPC ads and bring in those lovely clicks and conversions.

Demographic targeting

Just like Google, Bing offers demographic targeting options so you can home in on specific age groups, genders, and household incomes.

This can be particularly useful in PPC campaigns for businesses selling products or services that appeal to a specific audience.

Integration with Microsoft products

It’s a no-brainer that Bing integrates with various Microsoft products, such as Windows, Office, and (hello TikTokers) Xbox.

Fans and users could be more inclined to use Bing as their default search engine, increasing the visibility of Bing Ads.

Of course businesses looking to maximise their ad spend can also manage their PPC campaigns and track results through Microsoft Advertising integrated analytics technology.

Alternative ways to search

Bing is a leader in voice search technology, powering the voice search functionality for both Siri and Amazon’s Alexa (also known as the other women in your other half’s life).

Niftily, it also offers a visual search feature enabling users to search for images and products without using text search ads.

If you’re a business selling visually appealing products, such as fashion or home decor, these paid ads can be a winner.

How we can help with your PPC strategy

Advertising your business can feel a bit like walking through a minefield. There’s so much to navigate, from understanding your keyword strategy and how it affects search engine marketing, to choosing the right ad group and the difference between social and shopping ads.

It’s a huge amount to take in, especially if you’ve got your hands full running your business. We know that a solid PPC strategy can give you complete control of your marketing strategy, from the budget and targeting to ad placements.

Our team of experts can give you hands-on help with your PPC management, identify ad groups and the best ad networks for your business. We’ll create a comprehensive marketing strategy, from paid social ads to analysing analytics, and one that will deliver results.

Contact us

Want to chat about paid advertising campaigns or find out more about what a PPC agency does? We’re all ears. You can drop us a line at hello@24fingers.co.uk, or fill in this contact form and we’ll will get back to you straight away so we can start adding more digits to your bottom line.

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Stand out from the search engine crowd: 10 ways to optimise your Google My Business listing

Scheenagh Harrington — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 08:15:25 +0000

There’s no escaping the fact the vast majority of people, whether they want to know what’s on at the local cinema or where they can find the perfect pair of shoes, turn to Google for the answer.

For entrepreneurs, the Google My Business (GMB) listing is a hugely powerful tool that can have customers beating a regular path to your door – if used to its fullest potential. So, settle back and enjoy our 10 ways to optimise your GMB.

Don’t be caught NAPping

It’s a fundamental but you’d be surprised how many businesses can be caught out by leaving out-of-date name, address, and phone number (known as NAP) details on their Google Listing. But don’t forget to make sure any local mentions of your business NAP online are also bang up to date. It’s not just Google’s algorithms that will look you up, people use online directories and social bookmarking sites too.

What’s in a short name?

Newcomers to GMB should know part of getting started includes choosing a short name for your company. Log into GMB, click info on the left-hand side then scroll down to “claim short name”. Basically it’s an easy way for local customers to find you and it has to be something that’s specific to or commonly known about your business. You are limited to 32 characters though…

Let the words flow…

There’s a little more room to breathe with the 750 characters Google gives you to write a belting, straight-to-the-point business description. You can’t include sales content or links, but you can be authentic and tell local customers about you, your brand, its USP and the story that took you to where you are now. To optimise the description, make sure one or two keywords crucial to your business are mentioned early doors, as well as a location keyword.

Square pegs into round holes

Choosing a category for your business can be easier said than done, as not everyone fits neatly into a box. Google says: “Categories are used to describe your business and connect you to customers searching for the services you offer. For example, if your primary category is ‘pizza restaurant’, Google may show your business in local search results to people who search for restaurants, Italian restaurants or pizza in their area”.

Be as specific as you can at this point, as it will help local searchers. The secondary categories will help you refine even further the services you offer. A massage therapist would list that as their primary category, while secondary ones could include tarot card readings and spiritual advice.

Seeing is believing

Having a cracking business description is all very well and good, but we all know a picture paints a thousand words and on Google, posts are three times more likely to be shared if they include a photo. Select at least three high-quality images of your products, as well as your interior and exterior if you have a bricks-and-mortar presence, and shots of staff as they deal with customers. Try to think of any way that will attract local searchers to your door – the world’s your lobster.

Right of reply

Reviews are amazing tools to help a business grow their reputation, and who among us doesn’t love a bit of flattery? But reviews are also crucial for inspiring trust among customers, and it can take up to 10 before locals will put their faith into a company. You can automate the review process either on your site at the checkout, or by sending a follow-up email after your product has been delivered. While it’s always lovely to get glowing reviews, it’s equally as important to respond transparently to the not-so-positive ones. Customers can see how you react, whether there’s an issue to be fixed and how efficiently you do so.

Posts within posts

Google Posts is a fantastic mini-blog feature (you can have a maximum of 1,500 characters) that not only boosts your GMB but can also spread your message to a wider local audience. They pop up in the Knowledge Panel and are a great way to advertise offers or upcoming events.

Questions, questions…

Google’s Google Q&A feature is a nifty tool that helps inform local searchers about a business, with the questions and answers displayed in the knowledge graph. As well as being a great way to build local exposure, business owners have control about what questions to ask, so you can find out more about the local area and use it to help draw people to the services you provide. Avoid the hard sell though. It’s about learning, rather than keyword stuffing.

Social media family

We said right at the start that having up-to-date information was crucial to getting the best out of your GMB, but it doesn’t mean just listing your NAP (hands up how many had to zip back to the top to remember what that was?). Your listing should include ALL your social media profiles too, giving local searchers every opportunity to find you, your business and your products. Just be sure to check the business name used on your social media profile matches the GMB profile.

Do some digging

Google has bent over backwards to offer a slew of features as part of the Business Listing tool, and it’s worth taking the time to dig through them and find out how many you can use to optimise your business. If you offer appointments, there’s a “book” button, restaurants can link their menus, while service-area firms can hide their address and list a serviced area instead. The possibilities are endless.

If it all sounds a bit much, don’t worry. Book in your free session and we can talk you through every step of polishing your GMB until it’s blinding.

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Google seeks to seduce Pinterest devotees with new sharing app Keen

Scheenagh Harrington — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 04:03:14 +0000

God loves a tryer, so they say, and they don’t come much bigger than Google. It’s dominated the world of search so completely, it’s hard for any single company to even think about giving it a run for its money. But Pinterest is giving it a damn good try.

It’s evolved from its early incarnation of a pin-board site into a sophisticated, smart platform that has more than earned its e-commerce stripes, turning engaging and eye-catching content into shoppable products for discerning customers and bringing marketers flocking to its door.

Understandably, Google isn’t taking the competition lying down and has launched Keen, a web and Android app that offers users a “place to grow and share your interests with loved ones”, according to a blog post from its creator, CJ Adams.

“You say what you want to spend more time on, and then curate content from the web and people you trust to help make that happen,” Adams wrote. “You make a ‘keen’ which can be about any topic, whether it’s baking delicious bread at home (Ed’s note: sourdough, anyone?), getting into birding or researching typography. Keen lets you curate the content you love, share your collection with others and find new content based on what you have saved.”

If you’re thinking it sounds a LOT like Pinterest, we’d say you’d be right, but there is a little more clout to Keen. It draws on the might of Google Search and the latest in machine learning to identify content related to users’ interests – something that could potentially be very useful for marketers.

Keen isn’t the first crack Google has taken at Pinterest, in fact it’s been rolling out tools and features mimicking the platform for almost two years. Whether it’s genuinely hit on something this time around only time will tell, but we’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on this new kid on the social media block.

Are you a devoted Pinterest lover looking to hook up with more social media platforms? Drop us a line at 24 fingers and let us play Cupid.

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Online Reviews: How to get more of your current clients to tell your future clients that you’re fabulous

Nicola Hatch LIghterness — Sat, 07 Mar 2020 21:29:03 +0000

Customer service is very much part of our online shopping experience nowadays. Whether we’re purchasing a beautiful new sofa or are looking for a fabulous social media agency to get your brand out there (hello, 24fingers), you’ll no doubt have a look at the online reviews as an digital try before you buy exercise before you commit.

That’s why it’s important to have a plethora of pleased patrons in your past, so getting more online reviews is crucial. After all, we all know that your business is fabulous, so why not get your current clients to tell your future clients that they also think you’re fabulous?

Get yourself out there

First things first, to get online reviews you need to be in a position to receive online reviews. By this, we mean that you need to be on certain websites and platforms where your clients can review you.

Of course, in this day and age of social media, if you’re on Facebook you’ll already have a ready-made platform for online reviews, and if you’ve signed up for Google My Business, the biggest search engine in the world will display your five stars for you, but have you thought about having a testimonial form on your website, or setting up on a platform such as Yelp or Trustpilot? Once you know where you want your reviews to be, you can use a link to direct your clients to give you a (let’s face it, more-than-likely-stunning) review.

If you don’t ask, you don’t get

What’s that, you want more online reviews but aren’t brave enough to ask your clients to shout about how fabulous you are? In the world of online reviews, it is a case of don’t ask, don’t get.

People are all too quick to jump online and shout from the rooftops of Twitter when service goes wrong (Ed’s note: keyboard warriors I think you’ll find the term is), but will they be popping onto Facebook to give you a glowing review if everything is as it should be? Unfortunately it’s just human nature that when service goes right, we simply enjoy the end result and forget all about telling the company how grateful we are for the product / service / whatever.

With this in mind, you may well need to ask for reviews. As business people we become good at pitching for new business, but don’t forget that this is a pitch in its own way: if you ask your clients for a review, and if it’s a good one, that client is singing your praises to your future clients.

It’s important to bear in mind that when asking for reviews, you need to be careful if you go down the incentivising route. Advice from Trustpilot says that it’s ok to incentivise, as long as you tell them about it in advance (so that they can review what you’re offering your clients) and that incentives are equal for everyone. This means that you need to offer a free gift, or the chance of a giveaway, to everyone that leaves a review – regardless of how good or bad it is – and it shouldn’t be dependent on a future purchase. So if you do incentivise, you’ll need to follow the rules of the platform you’re using.

With this in mind, what are you waiting for? And if you think you haven’t got time to ask for reviews, it’s time to think again. It’s actually pretty easy to set up automated emails requesting a review. Not sure how to do so? Let us give you a helping hand.

Deal with bad reviews positively

Of course, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. We know that your brand is fabulous, but with the best will in the world, there will be times when things don’t quite go according to plan. When this does happen and you receive a negative review, or just a negative post on one of your social media platforms, you need to deal with it in a timely, positive manner. Check out our advice on how to handle negative feedback like the boss you are.

In this connected world, online reviews can be a really powerful tool in gaining future business and establishing your brand, so it’s important to put some time into putting together a review strategy for your business. Time to get those gold stars with your name on them.

Yes! I could do with a strategy to get more online reviews

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Happy Birthday, Google!

Jack Theobald — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 14:32:42 +0000

Google turned 20 (!) this week and on this momentous occasion, the world’s biggest search engine has celebrated in the way they do best – with a Google Doodle.

As of 1998, Google has published often charming, intricate and celebratory doodles to illustrate major events, holidays, achievements and people. Today, we pay homage to the search engine with five of our favourite EVER Google Doodles over the past 20 years….

Being based in London ourselves, we couldn’t not pick the doodle celebrating 150 years of London Underground. After all, where would we be without all the delays and cancellations on our beloved subterranean transport?!

The intricate detail behind this particular doodle is amazing and it really embodies the confusion London’s Underground would cause anybody that isn’t a frequent traveller (sorry, tourists!).

Secondly, it just has to be everybody’s favourite pellet-eating, ghost-fleeing gaming personality. You guessed it: the Pac-Man doodle!

Both an image and interactive game, the Pac-Man doodle became an instant hit, obviously, and is brilliantly designed to work with the principals of the original game. A perfect procrastination tool for those at work pretending to research something. Actually, I’m sure there was something I needed to look up…

Third of all, we’ve chosen the beautiful Martin Luther King Jr doodle. A slightly more solemn choice, admittedly, but definitely warranted.

This 2014 edition of Martin Luther King Jr Day is both insightful and elegant. The image of white doves – associated with love and peace – flying out of an open window poignantly portrays the peace and freedom Martin Luther King Jr fought for. An amazing illustration that really catches the eye of the beholder and reminds you of the great battles others have embarked upon to ensure the world could reach the level of forward thinking it has to this day. Still some way to go, obvs.

Next on our list has to be the 2017 International Women’s Day doodle which is a collection of eight illustrations in the form of a slideshow that you can look through at your leisure.

The above are just a couple of the images Google used to show its appreciation for pioneering women throughout history, and their many contributions to society. From mathematician Ada Lovelace to Korea’s first female lawyer and judge Lee Tai-young, the resonating illustrations capture the stories behind inspiring female figures who fought to open up new opportunities for women. Who run the world?

Last but not least, the 200^th anniversary of Grimm Fairy Tales. The Brothers Grimm created countless folktales and legends that we all love (and fear) but Google chose to focus on one of our favourites – Red Riding Hood. Through a comic book format, Google released an interactive selection of illustrations that tell the story of Red Riding Hood with an alternative ending.

Above is again, just a small selection of the illustrations used in the comic strip that make up a really fun and interesting interpretation of the Brothers Grimm legend. Arguably one of the most impressive doodles to date, we strongly recommend you go have a look at the entire thing. You’re sure to have a frightfully good time!

On a side note, Google provide the “Doodle for Google” contest where they invite young artists to design artwork for future Google Doodles. A brilliant incentive that helps uncover excellent young talent, so feel free to, you know, Google it, and have a look….

Finally, it has to be said – Happy Birthday Google! We L-O-V-E your doodles, so keep them coming.

The post Happy Birthday, Google! first appeared on 24 fingers.

The post Happy Birthday, Google! appeared first on 24 fingers.